


Shell Concussion

by Keitmeg



Series: Zosan Package [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bedside Vigils, Caring Roronoa Zoro, Case Fic, Childhood Memories, Fainting, Fights, Gen, Head Injury, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Pervert Vinsmoke Sanji, Verbal Humiliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 18:17:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13195836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keitmeg/pseuds/Keitmeg
Summary: Zoro and Sanji always fight, it's a taken. However, it becomes an entirely different thing when Zoro resorts to something other than his swords. Hurt!Limp!Sanji and Guilt-ridden!Caring!Zoro.





	Shell Concussion

**Author's Note:**

> Just an excuse for hurt Sanji.

 

“Will you knock it off already, eyebrows?” Zoro bellows, almost in a snarl.

Sanji has been loitering by the two beauties of the seas’ side inside the bar where they’ve all been sitting and relaxing, mostly by the archaeologist's because if there’s something Nami is known for it’s her temper. But Robin was too nice to chase him off. Thing is, he’s been at it for hours and it’s weird, not to mention irritating, for a guy his age to be harassing girls when all they and pretty much the entire crew wish for is a little fucking quite.

“What’s it to you, moss head?” Sanji counters, the gleam in his eyes dulling immediately.

“It’s me you’re giving a headache to, alright?” Zoro’s been leaning back on the backrest with both his arms outstretched on the headrest of the padded bench. “So be quiet.”

Sanji hums bemusedly and nears him, “I don’t take orders from anyone,” he says in challenge, “especially not from a clueless ass who doesn’t even know how to charm a lady,” he said, and added “bet your first crush –what was her name again? Yea, Kuina” –Zoro’s relaxed demeanor changes suddenly and his body language becomes defensive as the rest quirk up because that’s a sore subject to the swordsman– “bet she thought you were a spoiled loser.”

Zoro, in any other day, would have drawn out his sword and acquiesced to Sanji’s attempt at a fight. Not today. He stands up and since he’s a foot taller he looks very intimidating with his stupid large and muscled chest. He glares at the blond , a scathing glare that makes Sanji go all still and quiet.

“Don’t even speak of her with that mouth of yours, understand, you fucking bastard?” he starts, “and spoiled, you say? What the hell do you know? A guy like you, in a stupid suit, the only hardship you ever had was mincing meat and that’s what you should stick to instead of acting like a smartass.”

Something in Sanji’s guts churns like a whirlpool, relentlessly. He has never seen Zoro lash out verbally, always resorted to his sword, maybe to blow off steam. It usually was never serious. This is different; this Zoro being furious. Sanji knows he crossed the line with that Kuina blow so he knows Zoro has all the right to retaliate. He just never expected to be the receiving end of this fury.

“Guys, you need to stop.” Franky decides to be the voice of reason.

“He’s right,” Robin nods, “come on, let’s just –”

“Apologize.” Zoro suddenly rumbles, cutting them off.

Sanji furrows.

“I said apologize, you hard of hearing?” He seethes.

The silence that is veiling the bar is anything but calming. Sanji feels eyes on him from every corner, even from the captain who gets dizzy from serious talks.

Suddenly, a hand clutches at the lapse of his jacket and pulls. Sanji skids wide blue eyes to Zoro’s, internally trembles at the anger, resentment which his insouciance won’t solve this time.

“I said –”

“I’m sorry.” Sanji croaks out, heavy-lidded eyes on Zoro’s. “I crossed the line there, so I’m sorry.”

Zoro’s brows twitch in raw confusion. He tightens his grip until it becomes physically uncomfortable for Sanji before he lets go of the man. He lifts his glass of wine from the table and walks past Cook, knocking their shoulders vigorously.

 

The rest of the day was gloomy, and even though Luffy and the rest tried to liven up the mood during dinner, all it managed was urge the cook to leave the place entirely.

Sanji tried to appease to the swordsman during his watch but was shunned out harshly. The man needed to cool off before he could forgive Sanji or even hold him again. Sanji was very understanding but still repeated his apology, hoping it’d do the trick if the first two didn’t.

That night, nightmares crawled to Sanji in his sleep. Flashes from his past, his pathetic, dark past revisited him like it used to in the not so far years. When dawn bloomed, Sanji was still awake and upset.

 

Sanji takes a look at Zoro’s empty bed, and figures he either stayed up (most likely not since the man sleeps like a grizzly) or slept in a different room. Sanji ignores the pang he feels gnawing at his heart and heads to take care of his business. By eight, he has the table ready with a few seven layer cakes, hills of pancakes, drinks and juices and everything he could manage to make from what they had in the fridge. Okay, hands down, it was his plan to bribe Zoro with the food which emphasized the things the man said during his angry rant.

Just like that, the gloomy mood is back again.

 

In the afternoon, Sanji was still locking himself in the kitchen to keep his mind busy from everything that happened and from the fact that Zoro was still mad at him and wouldn’t talk to him. The troublesome trio was at the deck, fishing, of all troublesome things.

Sanji hears a happy squeak and finally decides to take a five minute smoke break from lunch preparations. He steps out of the door just as the trio pulls the rod with this giant shell hooked to the end of its line. It falls on Cook.

 

His bearings slowly become intact and Sanji pries his eyes open; sea blue eyes dilating in the darkness of the night. He sits up very slowly and inspects the small room which turns out to be the sick bay. Why in the world is he here, in fact, what the hell brought him here? Last thing he remembers is the giant shell Luffy, Usopp and Chopper fished falling on him then everything went black.

He scratches the back of his head and hisses, immediately regretting the action. There’s gauze wrapped around his forehead, and the area beside his left temple is throbbing so bad.

He probes his chest for a pack of cigarette but finds none.

“No smoking.”

A gruff voice suddenly speaks, making Sanji scream like a little girl.

He also regrets this action because the throb he felt intensifies. He faces the source of the voice and finds Zoro on the stool, arms crossed over his marble chest. Sanji’s eyes almost drown in Zoro’s but he quickly shakes himself out of it. They haven’t made up, so he has to keep the act.

“Where’s my pack of cigarette?” Sanji demands in his hoarse and sleepy voice.

“Chopper confiscated it.” Zoro offered, something about the look in his eyes looks different now.

Sanji lets out a weary sigh and slowly starts to swing his legs outside the bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Sanji arches an eyebrow at the absurdity of the question, “out?”

“Get checked by Chopper first, and then you can leave.”

“I’m fine.” Sanji defends, “what time is it anyway? I need to start dinner preparations.”

“You don’t need to, at least not for a while.”

Sanji pauses and cocks his head, “well, that sounded ominous.”

“What's the last thing you remember?”

Sanji clears his throat and takes a moment to remember, “A giant shell falling on me.”

Zoro, then, stands up and heads his way. He sits on the side of the bed with this defeated look on his face, yes, defeated. Sanji must be still dreaming because Zoro does not show his defeat to anyone, much less to the person he isn’t currently in good terms with.

“Listen to me carefully,” He starts. “Robin said that the shell Luffy and the others fished is called Mnemosyne.”

“Mne –what?”

“Mnemosyne, it was a memory shell.”

Okay. “That’s cool but what’s with the conchology lesson all of a sudden?” and it’s Zoro, guy who can’t even tell north from west.

Zoro frowns, “The memory shell is a living entity.” He exhales like something the weight of a mountain is resting on his chest. “Soon as it fell on you, it started feeding off your memories.”

Sanji scowls in concentration.

Zoro’s eyes land on Sanji’s, clear for the first time since the latter woke up in here. “You’ve been sleeping for four days now.”

Sanji’s brows fly up to his hairline, “what?”

“Look, I’ll get Chopper here to take a look at you.” He assures, “then the girls will get you something to eat before –”

“Tell me first,” Sanji interjects, “I need to know what happened.”

Zoro sees the defiance in Sanji’s eyes and resigns to the man’s wish. “Soon as the thing fell on you, this strange light started blooming from its opening and landing on you. You were passed out so you don’t remember, but the shell suddenly showed some of your memories from your childhood.”

Sanji’s confused and still bleary eyes roam in Zoro’s, as though waiting for the man to deny or something.

“It projected some of your memories and we’d all see them.”

Sanji scoffs, “My memories?” he asks, “from my childhood?”

Zoro remains silent, not confirming nor denying.

Sanji balls his grips on the quilt beneath his hands, “what did you see?”

“Hey, it doesn’t –”

“What?” Sanji bawls.

Zoro tilts his head and begins a recounting of everything that’s been shown from Sanji’s childhood, starting from his abusive brothers and father and to his and Chef’s isolation in a no name island. At one point, Sanji’s thoughts start racing for release, and his chest tightens.

“Eventually, the shell almost sucked all your life force but Robin managed to cast it out.”

Sanji’s chest heaves, his lungs chasing air but failing to keep in it.

“Cook,” Zoro calls out, so gently Sanji wants to laugh. “Hey, just breathe, okay?”

Sanji clutches at his sternum and bows a little, eyes going wide and perspiration coating his face and neck. “Can’t…” he pants, “can’t…”

Zoro places his callous hand on Sanji’s back and lifts up, alarms going off. “Take a deep breath in, Cook, you’re just freaking out.”

Sanji’s vision sways and he fans on Zoro, knowing the man will carry his weight for him.

“Cook, please…”

Sanji hears the desperation in the swordsman’s voice, and if he wasn’t wheezing, he’d have made fun of the man.

“You’re scaring me.”

Sanji hears the door rattle and then Chopper’s high pitched voice starts barking orders, then blackness swallows him.

Next time he wakes, the light of the sun is what meets him. He groans and shuffles and finally sits up again. Like a déjà vu, he finds Zoro next to his bed. He is sleeping, head on the edge of the bed, and his calloused hand on Sanji’s.

Everything that happened comes back to him uninvited and he grunts.

Zoro lifts up like a soldier called for duty, his eyes going to Sanji. “You’re up.”

Sanji only nods.

“I’ll go get Chopper.” Just as he stands up, Sanji’s hand darts forward to hold his wrist.

“Wait,” he says and breathes relief when the man abides, “give me a minute.”

Zoro nods faintly and sits down on the stool, a crease across his forehead.

“Look,” he starts, “I know I said some pretty damn inconsiderate things to you and I feel like a total jerk.”

Sanji was already shaking his head on a smile. “Don’t”.

Zoro frowns.

Sanji lifts his gleaming eyes and Zoro’s jaw parts, slack. “Let’s not, okay?”

Zoro maybe sees some meaning in that and that’s why he remains silent. He nods and doesn’t add anything else.

Sanji relaxes a little because Zoro wasn’t going to feel sorry for him because his past was revealed against his will. Then, he feels Zoro’s hand squeezing his slightly.

He smiles endearingly to himself.

 

 

 


End file.
